Almost nine in 10 UK shoppers are drawn to brands that share their values, new research suggests.
Yotpo questioned 3,800 adults in the UK, USA, Australia, France and Germany via Pollfish for its State of Brand Loyalty report to find out how much brand loyalty is influenced by emotional factors.
It found that in the UK, 87% of respondents – and 96% of those from Generation Z – said they were drawn to brands whose values reflected their own. That figure was slightly higher than the global average of 85%.
Eight in 10 (81%) said data transparency was important to them, and 68% said they would share personal information with the brands they love in exchange for more personalised loyalty experiences and rewards (66% in the UK). For example, members of sustainable fashion brand tentree’s Impact Wallet loyalty club can track their personal impact on sustainability.
“Long-term loyalty takes time and repeated positive interactions with a brand go far beyond points or VIP access,” says Jordan Gutman, GM of loyalty at Yotpo. “While rewarding customer behaviour is one piece of the puzzle, gaining emotional loyalty can have an exponential effect on ecommerce growth.
“Every customer touchpoint, from website to email to text message, presents a huge opportunity for brands to engage in a meaningful way and loyalty program data can take those interactions to the next level. As marketers continue to shift their focus to customer retention, a strategic loyalty program will deliver hyper-relevant, personalised experiences that keep shoppers coming back.”
What brand loyalty means
Eighty per cent of respondents said that to them brand loyalty meant they tend to buy from the same brand, while 47% recommend it to others, and 42% buy from a brand despite there being cheaper alternatives.
Those that feel loyal to a brand said they would sign up for a loyalty programme (65%), for emails (58%) and would share details including email (81%), name (75%), birthday (70%), product preferences, such as clothing styles (55%) and product specifications, such as clothing sizes (50%). They would wait for a favourite brand’s products to be back in stock rather than go to a competitor (50%).
But brands would lose loyalty for issues from bad customer service (71%), having brand values that were not in line with shoppers’ own (48%), as well as for sending too many messages (43%) and posting awkward or ‘cringe-worthy’ social media content (30%). Also off-putting are bad business practices such as having supply chain partnerships with factories that mistreat staff (for 48%) or an affiliation with a big polluter (22%).
